Facts in the case

April 1, 2010 | State Attorney Angela Corey announces that she will seek the death penalty against Jarred Harrell in the rape and asphyxiation of 7-year-old Somer Renee Thompson.

March 26, 2010 | Jarred Harrell is formally charged with the murder of Somer Thompson, based on DNA matches and interviews with Clay police.

Feb. 24, 2010 | Jarred Harrell is charged by Clay police with child molestation, as well as 12 additional counts of child pornography.

Feb. 11, 2010 | Jarred Mitchell Harrell, then 24, is named as a person of interest in Somer's disappearance and slaying. He is held on $1 million bail in a Meridian, Miss. jail on 29 counts of child pornography.

Oct. 22, 2009 | Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler confirms that a child's body found in a Georgia landfill is that of Somer Thompson.

Oct. 19, 2009 | Somer Thompson of Orange Park was last seen wearing a cranberry colored jumpsuit with pink-striped sleeves.

Points of significance

Click on the blue points below to view points of significance in the disappearance of Somer Thompson

Interview room video of Harrell and his mother

Diena Thompson’s heart sank after waking up Saturday to news that Charish Perriwinkle, 8, had been snatched from a Jacksonville Walmart.

The crime, subsequent discovery of the girl’s body and arrest of a suspect brought back painful memories to Somer’s Thompson’s mother, nearly four years after Jarred Harrell abducted and killed the 7-year-old Orange Park girl.

Thompson said she is sickened for Charish’s mother.

“Her nightmare has just begun,” Thompson, 38, said.

Harrell abducted Somer in October 2009 while she was walking home from Grove Park Elementary School on Gano Avenue. Police found Somer’s body in a Georgia landfill two days later and charged Harrell in March 2010. Harrell pleaded guilty in 2012 and is serving a life sentence.

She said Saturday’s tragedy immediately reminded her of her daughter’s death.

“It literally time warps you back,” Thompson said. “I feel like it’s Somer all over again.”

Thompson said the registered sex offender arrested in Saturday’s case, Donald James Smith, didn’t belong on the street after a series of run-ins with the law.

“This is someone who should have never been out of prison,” Thompson said. “It’s definitely a failure for the state of Florida.”

Thompson lashed out people who blamed Charish’s abduction on her mother. The mother told police the girl was taken after walking away with a man the mother befriended that night.

Thompson has become a national champion for children and victims’ rights after her daughter’s death.

She said one of several calls she got Saturday morning was from Sheila Clifton, whose 8-year-old daughter Maddie was murdered in 1998 by teenage neighbor Joshua Phillips, who is serving a life sentence.

The two mothers have unwillingly become part of a tight-knit club of grieving parents nationwide who have lost children in such tragedies. Thompson said their newest member will be welcome with open, supportive arms.

"God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. ... That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave."

It has become apparent that pedophiles and sexual predators are a special class of criminal that are resistant to treatment and rehabilitation.
This is yet another example of how treating them as recoverable has resulted in the death of an innocent.
How many times must our law enforcement fail us before we recognize that once a pedophile, always a pedophile and that they cannot be allowed to be free in society.
Signs in their yards are not enough!
Opponents of the death penalty abhor the thought of an innocent being executed by the state and law enforcement.

Miranda, your second paragraph is completely wrong. The 'mother's actions' should be analyzed and discussed ad nauseam, until the bulk of society can get it instilled in their minds that there are monsters out there and in situations where children are concerned there is no room for casual, careless complacency. We all know things like this will continue to happen because someone somewhere will let a guard down, or have no guard at all.

It is a public forum that should not be moderated by cops or victims of crimes.

Sorry, but she met a man. Hours later she let's her 8 year old DAUGHTER wander off with him? Sorry, I know she's in pain and she did not deserve this but this IS her fault. She will have to deal with it and I feel terrible for any mother to lose a child but going to a Walmart with a stranger and then let her her go with him to the McDonalds near the front door? This is almost text book. He executed a plan and she fell in hook line and sinker. It never occurred to her "why is this strange man being so nice to us? " I on the other hand, can be at a friend's house who has other friends over that I do not know. I question when someone shows a little too much interest in my young (about the same age) child. I say "(child) go hang out over with the other kids". This would have been like Somer's mom saying "Somer, after school I want you to walk home alone and stop and talk to the man that has a dog in his yard, go in his house if he asks you to". Woman was irresponsible. Too bad for the child and the mother. I hope other parents see THIS story and learn something from it. And Yes, the dude should NEVER have been out free in society. What does it take to let a Judge know you are dangerous? Nuts.